3:15 PM. It’s 68 degrees Fahrenheit. The first nice day we’ve felt in a while. All apartment windows open, breeze blowing through. Five days until my birthday.

It’s been a day of cleaning after a week of being sick with colds. The apartment looks nice and tidy, with sunlight streaming in and turning the wood to gold.

The neighborhood is calm and peaceful. No horns or shouts can be heard.

Outside, a squirrel sits eating a nut on a fence, in that perfect squirrel-eating-a-nut pose, while a bird chirps unseen, over the sound of soothing accordion music playing through a distant speaker.

This is a good day.